Ask MusicRadar: what's the best guitar riff of all time?

Welcome to Ask MusicRadar, a section devoted entirely to you - the all-knowing, gear-buying, gear-playing and all-round music-loving community. This week we're asking: what's the best guitar riff of all time?

Why? Because - in the vein of MusicRadar's hallowed Beatles Week, Hendrix Week and Metallica Week - we're gearing up for seven days of axe-wielding goodness: Riff Week. Much, much more on that later. For now, though, what better way to kick off than with a list of the greatest guitar riffs ever, as voted for by you.

What makes a great guitar riff? Like any killer musical hook, a great guitar riff is sticky and infectious, impossible to get out of your head and irresistibly rump-shaking. A great riff destroys inhibitions and brings out the inner air guitarist in everyone.

UPDATE

After weeks of voting on the site, Facebook, Twitter and email, the top 50 greatest guitar riffs of all time will be revealed during Riff Week, which commences on the 23 November. However, you still have time to influence the outcome! The order of the top 15 will be decided by the results of our site poll, which you can see to the right of this article.

Check out the top 15 as chosen by MusicRadar users and get voting now!